Ashlee Buzzard, the mom of missing 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard, has been arrested on a charge unrelated to the search for her daughter, whose whereabouts remain unknown, authorities in California said Friday.
Buzzard, 40, was arrested on Friday on a warrant for a felony charge of false imprisonment, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office. She will be booked into a Santa Maria jail with bail set at $100,000, the sheriff's office said.
"Detectives learned of a recent incident where Ashlee prevented a victim from leaving a location, against their will which constitutes false imprisonment," the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Office said in a statement.
The sheriff's office said the arrest comes "during the course of the missing person investigation" but is not connected to the ongoing search for Melodee. Additional details are not being released at this time "as it would impede their ongoing investigation," the sheriff's office said.
"Sheriff’s detectives remain fully focused on locating Melodee and confirming her safety," the sheriff's office said.
The sheriff's office has been searching for Melodee for weeks, and from the beginning, authorities said Buzzard has not cooperated with the investigation.
Authorities learned Melodee and her mother left their Lompoc, California, home on Oct. 7 for a road trip, traveling as far as Nebraska in a rented white 2024 Chevrolet Malibu, the sheriff's office said.
Melodee was last seen alive on Oct. 9 on the drive home near the Colorado-Utah border, according to authorities.
Buzzard returned to their house on Oct. 10 with the car she and Melodee had rented on Oct. 7 -- but Melodee was not with her, the sheriff's office said.
Investigators allege Buzzard switched license plates during the road trip in an apparent effort to avoid detection. Authorities also said the mother and daughter were seen wearing wigs when they rented the car on Oct. 7.
Investigators believe Buzzard "swapped wigs throughout the trip" to intentionally avoid recognition during their travel, the sheriff's office said Thursday while releasing surveillance footage showing the two in the rental car location in Lompoc on Oct. 7.